McMurphy is McAwesome

I guess you could say i am a big McMurphy fan. I see him differently than most of the other people do in the class and ill tell you why. To me, McMurphy is a savior to these mental people. He teaches them things about life and gives them hope. McMurphy ensues social skills into a bunch of vegetabized mental patients. McMurphy gets alot of crap because he stirs things up within the mental hospital, but really he is the patients only source of hope. In the grand scheme of things, McMurphy has done something extrodinary and this is why im a fan of him.

McMurphy Lives On

Before McMurphy entered the ward, everything was dictated by the Big Nurse.  She had the staff, the doctor, and even the patients under her control, not giving them any breathing room to lead their own lives.  McMurphy was a savior to the men of the ward because he had the guts to overthrow the Big Nurse.  He saw her dictatorship, so he helped the patients become real men again.  Even though he lost a few battles, he never let anyone see how he was physically and mentally drained he was.  It wasn't until after McMurphy had a lobotomy surgery that Chief Bromden realized McMurphy was giving his all for them.  He saw how much it had affected McMurphy, but he knew that everyone was grateful for the influence McMurphy had on the other men.  McMurphy showed them how to live again and that the ward wasn't their right place in the world.  He taught them just because society thought they were different, doesn't mean they couldn't leave out in the real world with the rest of them.  So after McMurphy underwent surgery under the Big Nurse's orders, the men who were still left on the ward knew he wouldn't be the same.  This is why Chief Bromden ended up suffocating McMurphy because he knew that's what McMurphy would've wanted.  Nothing would've been the same, changing the man whom they all knew wouldn't want to live under the Big Nurse.  The surgery was the only way she could control McMurphy.  Even though he is gone now, his spirit can live on through the ward and the men.

                                               -Hayley Walkowski  

McMurphy Leaving

McMurphy was given the chance to leave several times throughout the drunken night described in the last 40 pages. Why didn't he leave? Why don't he take his opportunity when he was offered it, since he's been on his best behavior so he wouldn't be infinitely committed to the ward? 

It almost seemed as if he had given upon defeating the Nurse, but the Chief realized that the men in the ward were the only reason he had kept going as long as he did. McMurphy made jokes as he was put through electric shock treatment, to keep the men believing in him. He felt responsible for their well being, for helping them become men again, instead of the rabbits they had become under Nurse Ratched's watch. 

McMurphy felt he couldn't leave until the men were strong. He attacked the Nurse in a last ditch effort to revive the men's manliness.

Caitlyn Hines

The Turning Point

In the beginning of the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, McMurphy is perceived as the witty, fearless leader of the ward who makes constant attempts to get under the Big Nurse's skin. But as the novel proceeds to Part Two, McMurphy's attitude changes from rule breaker to rule abider. Why does McMurphy's change in attitude occur? What is his turning point?

In Chapter Three of Part Two, McMurphy has a conversation with the lifeguard about the ward vs. jail. While McMurphy is convinced that the ward is much better than jail, the lifeguard convinces him differently. "You're sentenced in a jail, and you got a date ahead of you when you know you're gonna be turned loose" (Kesey 170). The lifeguard goes on to explain that you leave when the Big Nurse wants you to leave. If she says you aren't ready, for whatever reason that may be, you could be trapped in the ward for years. It is at this point when McMurphy's priorities change. He originally was only concerned with defeating the Big Nurse, but now he's concerned about getting out of the ward - and in order to get out of the ward, you must be on your best behavior.

Up until this point, McMurphy's rebellious attitude was a symbol of hope for the other patients on the ward. McMurphy gave those men the strength to stand up for themselves, rather than giving in to the Big Nurse's outrageous rules. But then McMurphy, in a sense, turned his back on the other men and ended up giving in to the Big Nurse. He's giving her exactly what she wants: obedience and control.

While the other patients are confused by McMurphy's timid attitude and think it's just part of his scheme, Chief has it all figured out. "McMurphy was doing the smart thing. I could see that." ... "I told myself that over and over: It's safe. Like hiding. It's the smart thing to do, nobody could say any different. I know what he's doing" (Kesey 174).

Lena Peak

cuckoonest post!

In these few pages for 267-290, one thing stood out to me. They are doing electric shock therapy on the patience in the hospital. “Twist some dials,and the machine trembles, two robot arms pick up soldering irons and hunch down on him.”(Pg. 283) This means the book takes place back before electric shock therapy was banned. They fried the patients until smoke came pouring out of the window. I find this to be cruel and unusual punishment and it never really helped the patience at all.

Chief Bromden's Evolution

When the book first started, Chief Bromden was afraid that everything was part of the Combine, and was just another method of monitoring the inmates. He would not speak because he is afraid that he will say something wrong and be punished for it. He plays deaf because then the nurses will care less about him being around. Over the course of the book, Chief Bromden has become more open, helped in great part by Randle McMurphy. His belief that the Combine is all powerful has been waning. He realized that you can have fun and laugh at things with out always being punished for it. He has established a friendship with many of the other Acutes, even standing up for George when he is being harassed by one of the attendants. Chief Bromden has begun speaking, showing that he is less afraid of what the Combine could do to him. He stops acting as cagey, even taking part in a nighttime party thrown by McMurphy. Chief Bromden is a new man at the end of the book, even wanting to leave the asylum at at time of his own choosing. This transformation is brought on by McMurphy, who saved Chief Bromden's life from being entirely spent inside the hospital, wiping floors and dodging the eye of the Mrs. Ratched.
 Written by: Caleb Embree

Leader vs. Con-Artist

After reading pages 243-266 in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey there were some things that made me wonder about McMurphy's character and his actions. In part III he takes initiative to put together a fishing trip with all of the other inmates, making each inmate pay him $10 for the boat cost. At first this seemed like a nice gesture to not only himself but to the other inmates, becuase he was getting them out of the ward. When the group gets to the dock the captain of the boat does not allow them to take the boat out because there was no waiver signed to protect him if there was an accident. Then McMurphy tells the captain to call a number and while the captain was calling the "brothel" the inmates took his boat out, and fished, and got drunk. This is where McMurphy's true self showed through. He conned the captain into calling a brothel number so he could gain personally. But in this case he did not gain personally the whole group gained. Throughout this book there has been a constant battle in my head because I can not figure out if McMurphy has good intentions or is just there to con people like Bromden. In the end of part III McMurphy shows some sort of affection toward Bromden and tells him that he will help him grow strong if he can move the control panel. In part IV McMurphy bets another inmate that Bromden cant move the control panel, but knowing that he already can he basically hustled the other inmate to win $5 and once again he comes out ahead. Even though McMurphy comes off as a con-artist I feel that he actually wants to help Bromden in some way. But i am sure McMurphy's actions later in the book will keep me from choosing a side of a Leader or a Con-Artist.

one flew over the cuckoo's nest

                In the section I read (page 243-266) it was kind of funny because all of the guys took a boat out and where fishing.  This scene reminds me of little kids such as when they were all fishing and trading every time they had a hit so everybody got a chance.  This shows a sort of respect between the guys and shows that they all want each other to have a good time. There whole “community” of friends is just cool to see and this part of the story really demonstrates how close all of the guys really are.  Also in this scene they aren’t supposed to be on the boat so this was a big risk so it also shows how desperate they are to be able to have a little fun and have a day like normal people. -Garrett

Law and Order

In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Nurse Ratched is a prime example of law and order. Law and order is control. I'll explain it by saying that in the asylum all of the patients lives are controlled. They have no say in how thy live. Nurse Ratched has rules and the only point of most rules is for Nurse Ratched to display her control over the patients’ lives. Rules range from music constantly remaining on in the main hangout room, the staff members not being allowed to eat with patients, and the toothpaste being locked away as if it could be used as a weapon or a way of escaping. 

I see law and order in the real world today. the government, although not totally controlling, has a sense of law and order on today's society. an example of this is laws like wearing a seatbelt or even banning certain substances. Law and order is a way to keep people in check.

-Tyler Masters

Relevant To Life

As I read One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, the details that the author gives are outstanding. Each paragraph that I read, I get more and more involved and excited to read it. There is so much detail about everything and I love that the author did that.

A passage that related to my freshman year of high school is, “… standing in the cold fall night out on the football field, waiting for the ball to be kicked and the game to get going” (Kesey 198). This passage brings me back to when I went to football games and had anticipation for when the game would start. When a novel can bring back memories that I haven’t even thought about in years, that’s when I start to really enjoy reading because the novel can relate somehow to my life.

A part in the novel I didn’t quite understand was when The Big Nurse came and talked to the guys. In one part she says, “… we do not impose certain rules and restrict you without a great deal of thought about their therapeutic value” (Kesey 199). I don’t see how doing house chores has anything to do with “therapeutic value”. It’s just house chores. I do house chores all the time and there’s no therapeutic value to them at all.

Overall, this novel has been a good novel to read, with the exception of that one part. I would recommend this to read.  

- Jodi J. 

Conversations in the Night

Pages 217 to 224 see what is perhaps the most significant turning point of the novel so far: Bromden has spoken.

It is McMurphy who hears this, naturally, and their ensuing conversation seems to finally bring Bromden's thoughts into a reality more easily perceived by the reader. The gist of their talk focuses on size, with Bromden saying that he can't stand up, that he is simply too small whereas McMurphy is large and tough and much bigger than he. This does not relate to physical size, of course, for McMurphy is initially confused, saying that Bromden is much larger than he. Bromden expands on this, saying that he has been made small, like his father. We learn more about his father's past in a small anecdote here. He was chief of an Oregon tribe until the government basically bought off his people so they could get to the land they lived on. We again see the female gender cast in the role of authority and opponent to independent will as Bromden's mother, in addition to having her husband take her name, is shown to have held significant power over her husband. It is she who eventually convinces him to give up on the land, she who finally forces him to conform to the society's wishes. She is reflected in this role as being described as growing larger than both Bromden and his father combined, even though she was physically smaller than each of them.

Bromden also brings up the Combine, which continues to act in its role of forcing conformity onto the world. McMurphy realizes what Bromden is talking about as he says that Bromden both makes sense, but is also talking crazy - indicating that he realizes what Bromden's Combine delusion really is. Their conversation ends with McMurphy promising Bromden he'll help him get big again after being torn down by the ward, and talking about how he'll be treated better once he is big again.

To all this talk about growing bigger, there is a fairly obvious sexual component. It has been present throughout the novel so far and will likely continue from here. As mentioned before, McMurphy, who is the revolutionary of the ward, believes he has an excess of what he calls "whambam", or sexual energy. By reading between the lines of his conversation with Bromden, we can see that what the two are actually talking about in terms of "size" is also a sexual symbol, particularly when McMurphy takes off Bromden's sheets at the end and observes that he has, "growed a half a foot already" (Kesey 224).

By: Daniel Alexander

Power and Ethics

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the themes of power and ethics are present due to the actions of the nurse, Ratched. Because she has connections to the top, beyond those of the doctors, she can direct any one she pleases to a lobotomy or electroshock therapy. These two procedures are know known to be very dangerous and outdated, yet Ratched disregards the ethical choices. The power of Ratched can also be represented by her choices as well. The authority that she held over everyone else was beyond what she can handle and deserve. This problem is present in todays world also. Not necessarily in the United States, but rather undeveloped countries. Few people maintain all the power and are able to make unethical decisions without second thought. These actions are very common by known dictators in world history, such as Hitler and Stalin. In these two situations, they had authority beyond what they were capable of controlling that eventually led to unethical decisions, much like the actions of Ratched.
Author: Tyler Andrews

What is McMurphys purpose?

The clear glass turned hazy when McMurphy shoved his fist through it. For a while the system, referring to the hospital, had been running smooth. It seemed like McMurphy had given up, but I quickly learned that this was not the case. At first, I, like others around me, thought he was biding his time, but then it appeared not so. McMurphy breaking the glass of the nurses’ station ran shivers down my spine. That incident is where the story changed. Instead of McMurphy simply harassing the Big Nurse he has now sent a message. My question is, what does he really want? My mind drifts with possibilities, but one seems to separate itself from the others; he wants to show the men how to live. There was a time in this book that McMurphy only cared about himself, but the window was his breaking point. I firmly believe that McMurphy, though he hasn’t shown it yet, really cares about the others. I predict that throughout the story McMurphy will take a stronger interest in the Chief, and eventually they will leave the facility together.

-Dallie Flower

 

Chief Bromden's fluctuating sanity

Chief Bromden, the main character of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, appears to have a varying clarity of thought.  His narration fluctuates between being very intelligent, to sounding like it's coming from a conspiracy theorist.  Sometimes he ends up in some weird "fog" in which he loses almost all ability to move or listen.  In his intelligent periods, he is very analytical, and can figure out things that are difficult for most people to realize.  However, in his fits of insanity he is sometimes sure that Nurse Ratched is pouring chemical gases into the room, which make time stop, other times certain that the events of the day are determined completely by Nurse Ratched, and still other times thinks that she has listening devices in the walls.  These hallucinations make it difficult to tell what events are actually happening and what are simply the result of Chief Bromden's deranged imagination. 
-Ian Hines

The Fog

At the end of Part 1, Chief Bromden again brings up the concept of 'fog' throughout the ward.   Ken Kesey uses the 'fog' as a symbol to the lack of insight the patients have to reality.  The patients slip away from reality because of their medication or the fear of Mrs. Ratched.  The 'fog' also symbolizes the feelings Mrs. Ratched’s strict and humiliating treatments place on the patients.  In the beginning, Chief Bromden is sacred of the 'fog'.  He claims everything disappears and you feel alone.  Here is an example of how the ‘fog’ effects the Chief, “The words get dim and loud, off and on, as I float around, but as loud as they get, loud enough sometimes I know I’m right next to the guy that’s talking, I still can’t see a thing” (Kesey, 133).  Mrs. Ratched’s rules and regulations make it feel that Chief doesn’t have any say or power in the ward. 

            The only person who is not caught in the ‘fog’ is McMurphy.  He is able to discover Nurse Ratched’s iron rule over the patients and he attempts to give them power and pull them out of the ‘fog’. 

Written by: Chris Walkowski

world series

McMurphy asks for a vote to change the times they watch the TV in one of the their "therapeutic"  so that he can see the world series. In this session he is shut down, the men are all to afraid to raise their hands against the Nurse. After the meeting McMurphy yells at all the men later but they give it back and make him understand that their view is its the nurses way or no way since she has connections up top. Mcmurphy does a incredibly stupid bet, he bets the men he can lift a control panel that everyone knows he cannot. This he did to show the men that even though he knew it was very unlikely he still tried. So the next day McMurphy wants a re-vote but this time its not just about seeing the Series, he wants to see the men rebel and stand up for themselves against the almighty Nurse. The twenty acutes raise their hands but they needed 21 to be a majority and win against the nurse. When McMurphy started coming to the Cronics for a vote Bromden see and understands what McMurphy is really just trying to help the men against the Nurse. So Bromden raises his hand i a silent protest against the nurse.
Author : Russell.

Anything but Stable

Chief Bromden is a very complex character whose mental state is anything but stable. At times Bromden seems like an almost average guy. He is able to play out situations in his head and analyze the various possible reactions to what McMurphy is trying to do. Although he seems level at times like this, he also has bursts of insanity where he is overwhelmed with the thought of machines and the corruption of the mental ward. The Combine is Chief’s word to describe how the ward works like a machine. Although to Chief it’s not just the ward that’s run by this machine, it’s his whole world. He lies about being deaf and speechless in order to learn the secrets of the hospital. Chief Bromden is a very mentally unstable man, he shows clear signs of schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, bi-polar disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder. All of which attribute to his mental breakdowns and paranoid way of thinking.
Written By:Amanda Peterson 5/6/14

Chief Bromden's insanity

It is hard to get a read on exactly how crazy Chief Bromden actually is. He will go for long stretches and be completely lucid, then he will be acting absolutely crazy. In one chapter he will be observing McMurphy and analyzing him like a normal person would. In these chapters Chief Bromden is able to pick up on the subtleties of McMurphy's actions, and he is able to figure out what McMurphy is trying to do in the ward and how the staff will respond. In other chapters, Chief Bromden will be completely insane, and only focused on the Combine.He will talk almost exclusively about the machines in the walls or the the ones that he imagines that they put into people. Other chapters are spent on his hallucinations, like when he imagined that the floor was moving and he went down to the factory underneath the ward. His sanity bounces all over the place, and when going form one chapter to the next, you can never tell when he is going to be lucid or compleatley insane.
Written by:
Caleb Embree

Author's Craft: Analogies & Metaphors

Author, Ken Kesey, uses a plethora of analogies and metaphors throughout the text. Personally, I think this aspect of his author's craft is very effective to the reader. It allows the reader to understand certain situations within the ward through a different perspective or get a deeper meaning from the text.

One of the important, frequent occuring metaphors is the ward being a machine. From the perspective of Bromden, the reader gets the idea that the ward runs orderly like a machine would, and that the machine is operated by the ever so lovely, Ms. Ratched. Bromden even compares Ms. Ratched to that of a machine early on in the novel, "She blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the macinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load" (Kesey 5).

An analogy that McMurphy addresses is the "pecking party". After the patients in the ward have their "therapy session", McMurphy feels like they've just torn apart poor Harding. He noticed that Ms. Ratched was the instigator of everyone's word vomit against Harding. McMurphy describes the situation as a pecking party to Harding, "The flock gets a sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and they all go to peckin' at it" (Kesey 57). McMurphy is attempting to explain that Ms. Ratched is the one who creates that first spot of blood and then all the other patients chime in, destroying not only Ms. Ratched's chosen victim, but also themselves and the group as a whole.

There are many more metaphors and analogies in this novel, but these two stood out most to me while reading. Kesey's use of metaphors and analogies challenges me to read between the lines and pay close attention to the novel.

Lena Peak

The Chief

Bromden seems to be simultaneously the most sane and most crazy patient in the ward. He pretends to be deaf, which gets him ignored by the staff and other patients. With the group in the hospital with him, I wouldn't want any attention either. He makes an intelligent and sarcastic comment on pg 129 that I think isn't one that a completely crazy person would make. One of the Disturbed ward patients killed himself by cutting his testicles off and bleeding to death. Bromden commented that all he had to do was wait, meaning that Nurse Ratched has such tight control over all of the men that none of them have their manhood anymore anyways. 

On the other hand, Bromden had that fog hallucination that Justin blogged on in an earlier post. He later makes more references to the fog and how it feels safer than being out in the open. Feeling safe in fog is the first thing wrong with that, because not being able to see anything around you means you can't defend yourself. You're not the one in control. Every other book we've read so far this year has control as a minor theme. Frankenstein lost control of himself and created a monster, control conflicts were huge in Lord of the Flies, knowing yourself and controlling your life are part of growing up and the Bildungsroman novels we read, and Hamlet controlled the castle and his uncle through his crazy talks and murder. 

But I suppose that not having to take control is better for these men. They let the nurse walk all over them and just go through the motions of living. It's easier to do that when people don't take you seriously anyways.

-Caitlyn Hines

The Hallucination

Chiefs dream and or hallucination was very strange. It all started when he didn't take his little red pill, which he claimed paralyzes him. It really only stopped him form having these crazy hallucinations. It began with him falling down and then finding Blastic hanging by his heels where another person was cutting him up. Public Relation is also giving a group of random people a tour.
This part of the book was very weird but interesting. I want to see what else Chief would hallucinate about when not taking his little red pill.

Justin Kepsel                          

Brainwashed

The argument between McMurphy and Harding became very intense. Harding is defending the wretch, the big nurse, Miss Ratched. Harding claims that Miss Ratched is a "veritable angel of mercy" and states that she is unselfish, kind, and generous. McMurphy explains to Harding that she is basically running his life. "What she is is a ball-cutter," McMurphy stated which means Ratched is taking over peoples minds and controlling what they do. Harding begins to see what McMurphy is getting at, and realizes what she really is, a controlling dictator.

Not only did McMurphy open Harding's eyes, he also opened the eyes of other patients who heard the conversation. I can sense a rebellion coming later on in the novel, and it won't be pretty for the ratchet Miss Ratched.

                                                                                                            By: Kiley Ploehn

Chronics and the Acutes

Chronics are pretty much unable to function. They are not in the hospital to get fixed; they are only there to keep them off of the streets and to keep from "giving the product a bad name". They are trapped forever in the hell that is this mental institution. They are divided into three categories: walkers, wheelers, and vegetables. Bromden falls into the walker category, which are those who can still walk and function semi-normally as long as they are fed properly. The wheelers however have lost their ability to walk, and as their name might imply, spend most of their time in a wheelchair. Then there are the vegetables that have lost all of their ability to function anything aside from their autonomous bodily functions. Also there are patients who are referred to as Acutes. These patients are in a much better state of mind than the Chronics. Acutes still have a chance of being saved, however in this institution it is extremely unlikely. The worst fault of this hospital is that the staff have turned Acutes into Chronics by using electro-shock therapy and turned a once near healthy patient into a complete vegetable. The Acutes and the Chronics aren't all that different, because in this hospital nobody is getting out.

Written by: Keagan Carpenter

Welcome to the Ward

The mental institution always seems to have a mysterious hum and cleanness to it that it can be described as a place where dreams are held.  Unfortunately, this place is more like a nightmare due to the Big Nurse who sees to everything running her way.  She is a powerful individual, with more backbone than the ward's doctor, Mr. Spivey.  She has him and the rest of the staff under her control, so the patients can never escape her iron fist.  There are also three African American men who do the Big Nurse's dirty jobs because she has trained them to do so under any circumstances.  These men always seem to be lurking around the hospital, waiting for a patient to slip up so the Big Nurse can come bring them some medication.  When the patient is all drugged up, she leaves her three minions with the patient and a bottle of Vaseline.  During these times in the book, the author vaguely explains what goes on, but it seems as the minion's rape the mentally ill patients.  What kind of head nurse would allow her patients to be physically, or ever worse, mentally disturbed?  The ward should be a safe environment where the patients don't have to worry about being attacked every time they turn a corner.  

As soon as McMurphy came into the ward, the Big Nurse has felt threatened.  She feels like he is going to ruin her perfectly sound "machine," but he knows the truth about her cruel intentions on the patients.  He is trying to open everyone's eyes on what she is doing to them, which is difficult because some of them have already lost their minds.  I believe McMurphy will be a savoir to the patients because he isn't falling for the Big Nurses' tricks.  The battle has only just begun. 

Written by:  Hayley Walkowski